detect_language.rb

require 'httparty'

module DetectLanguage 
  
  class GoogleTranslate
     include HTTParty                                            
     base_uri 'http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/services/language' 
     format(:json)  
   
     def self.detect_language str 
       options = {:query => {:q => str, :v => "1.0"}}  
       result = get("/detect", options)
       DetectResult.new(result)
     end   
     
     def self.translate str, to, from = nil        
       options = {:query => {:q => str, :langpair => "#{from}|#{to}", :v => "1.0"}}    
       result = get("/translate", options)
       result["responseData"] ? result["responseData"]["translatedText"] : nil
     end             
  end    
                                                   
  class DetectResult
     def initialize result
        #[TODO: Hantera respons status]
        # NOTE: Sometimes, if the text is really cryptic, Google will return an empty responseData. Let's
        # avoid this leading to nil.[] exceptions by defaulting to an empty hash.
        @responseData = result["responseData"] || {}
     end
   
     def locale
       @responseData["language"]
     end                        
   
     def is_reliable?
        @responseData["isReliable"] ? true : false
     end     
   
     def confidence
        @responseData["confidence"]
     end 
  end 
end         

class String
  def detect_language 
    DetectLanguage::GoogleTranslate.detect_language self
  end 
  
  def translate to, from = nil
    DetectLanguage::GoogleTranslate.translate(self, to, from)
  end
end